Mormon Heritage – Faith/Doctrine Point As "Furniture"

I follow this blog about religious news around the world because I find what they present and (in general) how they present it to be valuable. I have given a lot of thought about a famous quote stated by Amos Oz (cited in this article):

https://religionnews.com/2022/10/07/judaism-israel-yom-kippur/” class=”bbcode_url”>https://religionnews.com/2022/10/07/judaism-israel-yom-kippur/

“We have inherited a household of furniture from the Jewish past. We must now decide what will go into the attic, and what will go into the living room.” – Amos Oz

I have expanded my Fowler Stage 4 to include this “sorting out of principles represented by furniture” from my Mormon (yes Mormon – gasp) past.

I can easily see how “Charity” might be a beloved bookcase that goes into a corner of my living area as a prominent book nook I am creating right next to the beloved lamp of “Education”.

There are a lot of really “too big”, “too broken”, “too impractical” principles that are getting moved out of my prime “living spaces” – like “Prophets”, “Presiding”, etc. I am glad that they work for others – and perhaps others are more skillful then I am in furniture re-construction/re-design/re-furbishing and make it work beautifully. I truly am happy for them and equally convinced that they don’t work for me and need to be related outside of the main rooms.

There are “joined” or “set pieces” that I am finding out in life that I am still sorting out – like a dresser and bed set representing “The Restoration” and “Joseph Smith”. I am comfortable separating the Protestant principle of “The Restoration of the Gospel” from “Belief in Joseph Smith”. Joseph Smith was (and wasn’t) many things – but the order of things is that Joseph Smith’s movement was a Protestant movement in response to other Protestant movements. The “dresser” aka “The Restoration of the Gospel” I can still use – “restoration” and “evolution” are not as far apart as I was led to believe in my youth on a fundamental level. If one believes in God and believes in the Fall, then the end game is the “evolution of the natural man” into a creature with restored truths. But that bedframe – that I have less use for.

What I find happens (and no one really prepared me for it – not even here) was the reaction of more traditional believers to my furniture decisions. It’s like I was honest with them “my faith is in a reconstruction process” as “a general house update”. It’s like I was honest with them, “some things I am not going back to believing/valuing because they don’t work post-reconstruction” as a “I am moving furniture around – and it won’t look the same when I am done with it (and/or God, should God decide to show up in the process). It’s like, “I have found ways to make that dresser work” in terms of restoration as a concept. And then, they actually tune in and notice that the bedframe is not being used – that the belief in Joseph Smith is not on display in my life. And then then ask… “What gives? How can you have a dresser without a bedframe? How can you believe in a Restoration without a belief in Joseph Smith?”.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

When you wind up in a faith transition, you wind up re-designing what you find valuable. There are a lot of valued truths that can be re-furbished, in some cases cut down to a better size, and are worth keeping front and center through nuance. Some of the rejected pieces can even be “recycled” into separate “pieces” and are still useful.

When you wind up in a faith transition, you are going to be “breaking apart” truths that everyone else doesn’t break apart and frowns upon it being done. You are going to find yourself maybe being “Christian” in the sense that you believe in Jesus Christ and find value in the Atonement” – but you don’t think the Atonement is connected to “The Fall of Adam and Eve” at all (or that that necessarily happened).

This is going to freak people out because where you are going in that area is an area they are not going into (which may or may not be true in the long run). Their security depends on “seeing a matched set” in the main rooms, darn it! They loved seeing that hideous sofa of tradition that was passed down through generations, legacy is important – and you just moved it out of “pride of place” in your home and/or refurbished/tarnished it beyond all recognition.

Happy Sorting!